Boston, 1865The last year has been incredibly painful for sisters Jane, Rebecca, Lucy, and Rose, to say the least. Their father had been killed in the Civil War, leaving the four young women devastated and orphaned. Now, the Adams sisters struggle to cope with the ravages of the War and are attempting to piece their lives back together eight months after the relentless fighting came to an end.Book 1: Mail Order Bride: Jane's Story: Jane Adams is still reeling from the deaths of both her father and her fianc e in the War. Though it has been more than a year since Adam's death and nearly two since her father's, she still cannot convince her mind to believe that it is real.Her sisters decide it's time for the four of them to leave Boston and start new lives away from the pain and difficult memories that haunt them. When they tell Jane about their idea to become mail order brides for men in the Frontier, Jane finds it hard to accept at first; her heart is still with Adam, and she cannot bear the thought of leaving the only home she has ever known--and what's left of the life that they could have had.In the newspaper, however, she finds an intriguing advertisement from a man in Oregon named John Grey. He has suffered heartbreak, too, and Jane thinks that perhaps this just might be the opportunity she needs after all. She makes plans to head out West to help him raise his daughter--which will get her out of Boston--but ultimately, his pain will keep him from wanting the type of relationship she thinks she can never have again. That is, until the letters start.Can these two overcome their own heartaches and find that sometimes it's what is behind us that keeps us going forward?Book 2: Mail Order Bride: Rebecca's Story: Rebecca spends days sifting through advertisements until, finally, she finds one from a man living in the Oregon Territory that sounds just perfect. Mr. Ezra Bolton seems sweet, romantic, and ready to start an enchanting new life with her. When she packs up her life and heads to Oregon, however, Rebecca learns a terrible secret about Mr. Bolton and her chances at the new beginning she longs for are threatened.Will Rebecca manage to find solace in this man, or will all hopes of starting anew be whisked away, leaving her in a more precarious position than she had been in before ever meeting Mr. Bolton?Book 3: Mail Order Bride: Lucy's Story: Lucy Adams dreams of a romance that she felt the Civil War stole from her. Just as she got to the age when she would be able to become a part of society like her older sisters and possibly find a beau, the fighting began, the men went to battle, and life became about far more than just courtship.In her despair, Lucy longs for a romance that will sweep her off her feet and give her a new life. When the time comes to meet her betrothed, however, she might just find that fairy tales are not always as they seem.Will she be able to see beyond what she thought she wanted to find what is truly right for her?Book 4: Mail Order Bride: Rose's Story: Rose knows that her three sisters are eager to get out of Boston; Rose, however, is not convinced by their plan.She does not like the idea of responding to the advertisements and feels that if she had the opportunity, she could make it on her own in the city. She was always more interested in the salons and businesses than courtships and marriage, anyway.When her sisters make it clear that they won't stand for her not joining them in Oregon, however, Rose has to decide how she can stay true to herself but not let down the only family she has left?
Four people sat in the big, shining automobile. Three of them were men. The fourth was a little girl. The little girl's name was Maida Westabrook. The three men were "Buffalo" Westabrook, her father, Dr. Pierce, her physician, and Billy Potter, her friend. They were coming from Marblehead to Boston. Maida sat in one corner of the back seat gazing dreamily out at the whirling country. She found it very beautiful and very curious. They were going so fast that all the reds and greens and yellows of the autumn trees melted into one variegated band. A moment later they came out on the ocean. And now on the water side were two other streaks of color, one a spongy blue that was sky, another a clear shining blue that was sea. Maida half-shut her eyes and the whole world seemed to flash by in ribbons. "May I get out for a moment, papa?" she asked suddenly in a thin little voice. "I'd like to watch the waves." "All right," her father answered briskly. To the chauffeur he said, "Stop here, Henri." To Maida, "Stay as long as you want, Posie." "Posie" was Mr. Westabrook's pet-name for Maida. Billy Potter jumped out and helped Maida to the ground. The three men watched her limp to the sea-wall. She was a child whom you would have noticed anywhere because of her luminous, strangely-quiet, gray eyes and because of the ethereal look given to her face by a floating mass of hair, pale-gold and tendrilly. And yet I think you would have known that she was a sick little girl at the first glance. When she moved, it was with a great slowness as if everything tired her. She was so thin that her hands were like claws and her cheeks scooped in instead of out. She was pale, too, and somehow her eyes looked too big.
"You've got to find something that will take up her mind, Jerome," Dr. Pierce said, lowering his voice, "and you've got to be quick about it. Just what Greinschmidt feared has come-that languor-that lack of interest in everything. You've got to find something for her to do." Dr. Pierce spoke seriously. He was a round, short man, just exactly as long any one way as any other. He had springy gray curls all over his head and a nose like a button. Maida thought that he looked like a very old but a very jolly and lovable baby. When he laughed-and he was always laughing with Maida-he shook all over like jelly that has been turned out of a jar. His very curls bobbed. But it seemed to Maida that no matter how hard he chuckled, his eyes were always serious when they rested on her.
